Ameritrash, Themes, and the Future!

Setting aside war themes for this particular discussion as that delves too much into Wargame versus Ameritrash even though there is plenty of room for crossover appeal.


Ameritrash seems to cover certain themes typically. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror are the most common. Old West, Superhero, and Pirate themed games aren't far behind.

What else is there? What else can there be? What theme(s) not done would you like to see an Ameritrash style game for? Do you think a theme (i.e. fantasy) can have so many games released in a short time span that people will get sick of it?

I would like to see a more cutthroat railroad game. The railroad barons back in the day weren't all nicey nicey they were downright vicious - roving gangs, sabotage, buying up land rights from under people, controlling certain parts that made the other chunks of land useless, etc. I could somehow see this combined with a cattle and sheep game as those two entities could get downright ruthless as well. I think there should be more business games with direct competition (Power Grid comes close but there isn't the nastiness that should be there).

I'd like to see some more relatable themes be explored, i.e. Grand Theft Auto.

Mad Dog wrote:

What else is there?

Gangster themes, e.g. Family Business, Ca$h'n Gun$

What else can there be?

What about post-apocalypse themed games? Is there much out there? Or can they fall into other categories such as horror?

There are still some great themes for AmeriTrash games that haven't been done well yet:

Cyberpunk
Post-Apocalyptic
Kung Fu
Espionage
Ninja (Kung Fu + Espionage)
Dinosaurs
The Old West
Gang warfare
Cops
Car chases
Superheroes (there still hasn't been a GREAT superhero boardgame)

Definitely Dinosaurs. I'd love a Dino Riders game...

Epic civilization building is also a good subject of some AT games. (Civilization, History of the World, Sid Meir's Civ)

Frankly, I think AT games are getting as routine in terms of theming as Eurogames are. I think the mechanics are starting to get very samey too- there definitely needs to be some forward movement. And part of that is invariably that there are PLENTY of unexplored themes, variations on themes, and ways of telling the story of an AT game that aren't being tapped.

Take fantasy for example. Pretty basic theme. Games like BATTLELORE or TOMB have it, and do nothing interesting, different, unusual, or innovative with it. Remember when MAGIC came out? Fantasy theme, but totally fresh and original. Likewise with what GW did with TALISMAN- designers need to understand that they have potential to create a new fantasy world with a game, not just stick fucking orcs and elves in it. I'm reading Moorcock's ELRIC books right now and it's really quite far removed from most fantasy- because Moorcock had a different approach that just paying lip service to genre tropes. It's almost about drug addiction more than swords and sorcery.

SciFi is the same way...do we need another SF themed "take over the map" game? No. But BSG offers something fresh- a game more about decisions and suspicion than about spaceships and robots.

There's all kinds of stories that games could be telling- car chases, that's a good one. One day I'm going to do that VANISHING POINT game I keep threatening. Crime games, investigation games...

I've always thought that a business game set in a kind of THERE WILL BE BLOOD millieu could be every bit as nasty, mean, and competitive as the best AT fare...unfortunately the designers working in that genre tend to go for a different market and focus on the math rather than that the bastardliness that's possible.

Espionage is another good one...so much room for interaction, player dynamics...

But instead we get shit like TOMB.

I'm hoping, actually, that REINS OF POWER turns out to be all I hope it will be- it's a fresh idea (modern geopolitical conflict, diplomacy, and economics) and it could have a very different story to tell us than the routine themes and ideas we're getting regularly.

There's all kinds of ways that things can be shifted to become fresh though- TOUCH OF EVIL for example. Pretty redundant game if you've bought any AT adventure game in the past 10 years, but it has a fresh setting and enough personality to succeed on its own.

I really, really don't want another fantasy themed "flip over a card and roll dice at it until it goes away" game. Ever again. I have SHELVES of them.

Post apocalypse and cyberpunk are sub genres of scfi though. Though underused I agree.

I'd like to see more business related games along the lines of Monopoly, Hotels, Acquire, Vegas Showdown, I'm the Boss! and the like. Business is brutal. It can involve lots of math because that's what business is: crunching numbers. But it should also have lots of player interaction, making business deals and screwing people over. Railroad games fall into this category too.

What about an airlines game? Picking a city to develop as your hub, working deals for which cities you fly to, wheeling and dealing on the price of fuel, etc. Marketing development would be cool to. Do you offer peanuts? What about first class? Business class? In flight movies? Do you go luxury or cheap? You could have mergers where you merge with another player, or buyout other players.

See, that's the thing MetalFace...there's all kinds of _stories_ that can be told that are just ignored in favor of "geek" themes. I'm honestly kind of tired of it. AIR BARON is the closest we've ever gotten to what you described, and that's like 12 years gone.

I think it's why I responded so favorably to LIEBE & INTRIGE...it hit all the AT buttons- theme, narrative, interaction, competition- but it was about a subject that was pretty much a complete 180 from the usual topics we get in games. It told a story, the mechanics interfaced directly with the theme, and it totally worked whether it was a "girly" game or not.

It's really key, I think, that if you're going the more "traditional" route with themes like fantasy and SF that you actively work to create a world and a sense of cohesiveness around it- like TI3, which I think does that extremely well, or even DESCENT which has a fairly distinct take on the fantasy motif.

metalface13 wrote:

Post apocalypse and cyberpunk are sub genres of scfi though. Though underused I agree.

I'd like to see more business related games along the lines of Monopoly, Hotels, Acquire, Vegas Showdown, I'm the Boss! and the like. Business is brutal. It can involve lots of math because that's what business is: crunching numbers. But it should also have lots of player interaction, making business deals and screwing people over. Railroad games fall into this category too.

What about an airlines game? Picking a city to develop as your hub, working deals for which cities you fly to, wheeling and dealing on the price of fuel, etc. Marketing development would be cool to. Do you offer peanuts? What about first class? Business class? In flight movies? Do you go luxury or cheap? You could have mergers where you merge with another player, or buyout other players.

Check out one of my blog entries about that.

I'd like to see a Harry Potter game done proper. Something of an adventure game meets Clue/Mystery in the Abbey whodunnit game. Get geared up with spells, find clues to whose behind the plot, what they're after and where they're doing it. Then do battle and hope you guessed right and brought the right stuff with you.

I'd love to see a post-apoc game where there's multiple players all scouring the same section of board for resources to build their own little niche of civilization out of the wastes, complete with options for trading and sacking.

mrmarcus wrote:

I'd love to see a post-apoc game where there's multiple players all scouring the same section of board for resources to build their own little niche of civilization out of the wastes, complete with options for trading and sacking.

I've seen a design in early prototype stages like that, but it hasn't quite gotten to the playtest stage yet.